Report: Self-proclaimed 'fire bug' set next door home ablaze, called 911, grabbed a beer

March 15, 2013|By Barbara Hijek, FloriDUH

Meet the arsonist next door.

Exactly one year ago officials said James Bates was arrested for arson and later convicted. He is currently serving 10-years of felony probation, deputies said.

But Bates apparently can't stop rekindling an affair with an old flame: On the one-year anniversary of last year's arson arrest, Bates was busted again...for arson.

Dispatchers got a call at 4:29 a.m. Wednesday from a man who told them that he "just got woken up by an alarm.” The man also reported the vacant home next his New Smyrna Beach home was "engulfed in flames" that "were going silly now," according to a news release from the Volusia County Sheriff's Office.

After being advised by the 911 dispatcher to keep folks aways from the fire, 44-year-old James Bates responded, “Alright. Please come, ‘cuz this thing is really getting goofy,” the release stated.

When deputies arrived they said they spotted Bates sitting in a chair in his yard next door, drinking a beer and watching the action.

Officials immediately launched an investigation which utilized the helpful noses of bloodhounds from the Tomoka Correctional Institution located nearby.

The dogs’ sensitive noses followed the scent of an arson suspect, which led directly next door to Bates.

Upon further questioning by investigators, Bates initially claimed that he had been awakened by barking dogs and then saw the raging blaze, investigators said.

But Bates later recanted his story and allegedly 'fessed up to setting the fire, the release stated.

The State Fire Marshal’s Office charged Bates with Arson and Burglary while the Sheriff’s Office added a Violation of Probation charge before hauling him off to the slammer.

Bates had also told investigators during his interrogation that he was responsible for other unsolved residential fires in recent months, calling himself a “fire bug” stating he is afraid of what he's capable of doing, according to the report.